The first day of a new term
Nervous on instructors part as well as that of the students. The ice-breaker for me is after I introduce myself, it is the time for student's to introduce themselves to me AND other students.
Doug,
First class meeting jitters are common for both students and instructors. Your approach helps to reduce the stress while giving them an opportunity to get to know each other and you. Once they have gotten settled in you can then move the class forward and you are doing that with your approach.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I like to get my students talking and communicating as soon as possible. I usually have students taking their first class on campus and their comfort zone is so tight it chokes them.
The first night of class I will often start out with randomly picking a student and asking, 'what are you doing here?'. After several students have answered I will normally have a student not want to answer, I like to help them out by asking if they 'heard what a great class this was' or 'just bored on a monday' and this often helps ease their nerves.
I spend the first few minutes of every new class by introducing myself and my expectations for the students.
